In the graveyard of economic ideology, dead ideas still stalk the land, notes economics professor John Quiggin with a wink and a grimace. Such beliefs—that deregulation had conquered the financial cycle, that markets were always the best judge of value, that policies designed to benefit the rich made everyone better off—brought us to the brink of disaster, and should have been killed off. And yet their hold on many minds is so persistent that they threaten to rise again and again. Zombie Economics looks ahead at what could replace market liberalism, arguing that simply returning to traditional Keynesian economics and the politics of the welfare state will not be enough.

"Tempted to tangle with your libertarian uncle or your Wall Street Journal bromide–spouting coworkers? If so, this book will arm you to rebut the clever phrasemaking and slippery reasoning that has allowed dead constructs like 'trickle down economics' to soldier onward. Quiggin's clear, elegant dissection of wrongheaded notions will appeal to both lay readers and academic economists."—Yves Smith